Various forms of wood splitting devices heretofore have been provided. One of the primary types of wood splitting devices includes spaced apart abutment and wedge blade structures movable toward and away from each other for splitting a length of wood disposed therebetween. Some abutment and wedge blade structure equipped wood splitters include motor powered hydraulic circuitry and double-acting hydraulic cylinders for moving the abutment and wedge blade structures toward and away from each other. While these forms of wood splitters are considered desirable, the cost thereof is sometimes prohibitively high inasmuch as they not only require a double-acting hydraulic cylinder but also a hydraulic pump, a hydraulic reservoir and a motor for driving the hydraulic pump. In addition, some abutment and wedge blade structure equipped wood splitters utilize an electric motor driven screw jack for forcibly shifting the abutment and wedge blade structures toward and away from each other, but these electrically powered wood splitters require a source of electrical potential and also incorporate structure including the electric motor and the screw jack structure which are subject to maintenance problems.
Accordingly, a need exists for an improved form of wood splitter incorporating a conventional hydraulic bottle jack as the force developing structure by which the relatively movable abutment and wedge blade structures may be moved toward each other for the purpose of splitting a log section therebetween.
Examples of various different forms of wood splitting devices including some of the general structural and operational features of the instant invention are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,966,180, 3,779,295, 4,112,985 and 4,258,765.